You commit plagiarism when you use someone else’s wording without proper acknowledgement.
This issue is prevalent in both academic and professional fields. And the main reason for the pervasiveness of this academic misconduct is the lack of knowledge about its consequences.
That’s what we intend to discuss here.
In this post, we’ll share some reasons to highlight the importance of avoiding plagiarism in both academic and professional spheres. But besides the reasons, we’ll briefly shed light on how to avoid plagiarism. So, without wasting any time, let’s delve into this discussion.
Why is Avoiding Plagiarism Important in Academic and Professional Spheres?
Plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional, can have severe consequences. In order to avert those consequences, one must understand the reasons to avoid this academic misconduct. So, after exploring various historical consequences, we have prepared the following reasons to highlight the importance of avoiding plagiarism:
-
Ruins the Reputation
Good reputation helps students and professionals fulfill their dreams. For instance, it is easier for reputable employees to get promotions or better jobs. Similarly, students with a good reputation can easily get their dream jobs, unlike untrustworthy candidates. So, a good reputation is essential to excel in any field. But if you get caught plagiarizing the material of your work, this act will instantly ruin your reputation.
Even if you fight your case of plagiarism and appear innocent, your reputation will never be the same afterward. People will start checking your work for plagiarism even though you have written it yourself. So, plagiarism makes it challenging to regain people’s trust.
-
Hinders the Development
Studying or working in a professional field aims to develop critical thinking and improve at a particular skill set. But when you plagiarize material in the academic or professional sphere, you indirectly show that you don’t have what it takes to excel in your field. This practice hinders the development of essential skills and undermines the core values of the education system.
-
Results in Suspension or Expulsion
Nobody likes their reputation getting ruined, especially an institute or organization. Therefore, the organizations or institutions of some regions have a zero-plagiarism policy. This means that when they discover a candidate guilty of plagiarism, they do not put their own reputation at stake. Instead, they prefer expelling or suspending the guilty candidate.
-
Results in Legal Consequences
Some organizations or institutes believe suspension or expulsion is not enough punishment for plagiarism-guilty candidates. They prefer taking legal actions like lawsuits and financial penalties against guilty candidates. So, plagiarism can also result in some legal consequences. However, this situation mainly occurs in law or when a candidate uses legally protected material without the owner’s permission.
How to Avoid Plagiarism?
By now, you may have understood the reasons for avoiding plagiarism in professional and academic fields. And if you have, you might be wondering about how to avoid plagiarism. So, here are some tips you can use to completely eradicate the threat of plagiarism while working in a professional or academic field:
-
Don’t Ignore the Value of Research
Research plays a crucial role when it comes to avoiding plagiarism. It assists in finding relevant material on a topic. The more time you invest in the research phase, the better material you can find for your topic. So, start working on your topic early. This way, you won’t have the fear of a looming deadline. And eventually, you’ll be able to avoid the threat of plagiarism.
-
Focus on Your Own Thoughts
Humans differentiate from one another based on their thought process. This means that everybody has their own perspective of thinking about something. So, another ideal way to avoid plagiarism is to use your own thoughts. For instance, use your own thinking, wording or a summarizer to conclude your thoughts to express whatever material you find during the research phase. This way, you will hardly face the issue of plagiarism.
-
Use a Plagiarism Detector
Sometimes, even after researching the material and using their own thoughts, people still fall prey to accidental plagiarism. However, since accidental or intentional plagiarism has the same consequences, eliminating it becomes essential. That’s where using a reliable plagiarism checker will come in handy.
A plagiarism detector is an automated tool that uses deep search and other advanced technologies to find traces of plagiarism in the submitted text quickly. So, you should use such a utility before finalizing your work. This way, you will always avoid unintentional or accidental plagiarism.
Learn the Art of Quoting and Paraphrasing
If you want to include data from an existing source, there are two legal ways: ‘Paraphrasing’ and ‘Quoting.’ Paraphrasing refers to revamping the existing information without changing its meaning. On the other hand, quoting refers to enclosing the information in double quotes without changing any wording.
You can use the paraphrasing tool when including long chunks of text from existing material.
However, if the length of the material you want to include is 3 lines or 40 words or less, you can use the quoting strategy. Either way, you will have to cite the source of the original information. Otherwise, the rephrased or quoted material will be considered plagiarized.
Wrapping Up – The Conclusion
Plagiarism can severely destroy the reputation of individuals belonging to the field of academia and the professional sphere. For instance, committing this misconduct can get you fired from your job, result in the loss of reputation, and prevent the development of critical skills. Therefore, you must avoid the practice of plagiarism at any cost.
